Organization

Business Ethics
Business Ethics Jonathan Poland

Business ethics refer to the principles and values that guide the behavior of individuals and organizations in the business world. These principles and values help to shape the decisions and actions of businesses, and influence the way they interact with stakeholders such as employees, customers, suppliers, and the community.

Some common principles of business ethics include honesty, fairness, responsibility, and respect for the law. These principles help to ensure that businesses operate in a way that is ethical and responsible, and that they have a positive impact on society.

There are several key issues that are often addressed in business ethics, including:

  1. Corporate social responsibility: This refers to the responsibility that businesses have to consider the impact of their actions on society and the environment. This includes issues such as sustainability, environmental protection, and philanthropy.
  2. Employee rights and treatment: This refers to the rights and treatment of employees in the workplace. This includes issues such as fair wages, working conditions, and discrimination.
  3. Consumer protection: This refers to the responsibility of businesses to protect the interests of consumers and ensure that they are treated fairly. This includes issues such as product safety, truth in advertising, and privacy.
  4. Business practices: This refers to the ethical practices of businesses, including issues such as honesty in business dealings, avoiding conflicts of interest, and avoiding unethical practices such as bribery and corruption.

Effective business ethics are important for building trust and credibility with stakeholders, and for ensuring that businesses operate in a way that is responsible and sustainable. This can lead to increased customer loyalty, employee satisfaction, and overall business success.

The following are key terms related to business ethics.

  • Accountability
  • Agency
  • Circular Economy
  • Compliance
  • Conflict Of Interest
  • Cooling Off Period
  • Cronyism
  • Cultural Appropriation
  • Dark Patterns
  • Do No Harm
  • Dual Agency
  • Environmental Issues
  • Equality
  • Ethical Climate
  • Extended Producer Responsibility
  • Fee Splitting
  • Fiduciary Duty
  • Gaming The System
  • Information Security
  • Insider Trading
  • IT Governance
  • Material Information
  • Patent Ambush
  • Precautionary Principle
  • Privacy
  • Product Transparency
  • Professional Conduct
  • Quality Of Life
  • Regulatory Risk
  • Reputational Risk
  • Resilience
  • Right To Know
  • Self Dealing
  • Sustainability
  • Technology Ethics
  • Tone At The Top
  • Transparency
  • Unintended Consequences
  • Usury
  • Values

Corporate Identity
Corporate Identity Jonathan Poland

Corporate identity is the visual representation of a company’s brand and values. It includes elements such as a company’s logo, color scheme, typography, and messaging, as well as the overall design and appearance of a company’s marketing materials. A strong corporate identity helps to establish a company’s brand and differentiate it from its competitors.

The importance of corporate identity cannot be overstated. In today’s competitive business environment, it is crucial for companies to establish a strong and consistent visual identity in order to stand out and build trust with their customers. A strong corporate identity helps to build brand recognition, which is essential for attracting and retaining customers.

There are several key elements that go into creating a strong corporate identity. These include:

  1. Logo: The logo is often the first thing that people think of when they think of a company. A strong logo should be simple, memorable, and versatile. It should also be appropriate for the company’s target audience and industry.
  2. Color scheme: The colors used in a company’s marketing materials should be consistent and reflect the company’s brand and values.
  3. Typography: The typefaces used in a company’s marketing materials should be consistent and easy to read.
  4. Messaging: The messaging used in a company’s marketing materials should be consistent and reflect the company’s brand and values.

In order to create a strong corporate identity, it is important for a company to take the time to carefully consider each of these elements and create a cohesive brand image. This can be achieved through the use of a style guide, which outlines the company’s brand guidelines and helps to ensure consistency across all marketing materials.

Overall, a strong corporate identity is essential for building trust and recognition with customers. By creating a cohesive and consistent visual identity, companies can differentiate themselves from their competitors and establish a strong brand presence in the marketplace.

Conflicts of Interest
Conflicts of Interest Jonathan Poland

A conflict of interest exists when an individual or organization has incentives that contradict their responsibilities. This can occur when a professional may be rewarded for subpar performance, although the existence of a conflict of interest does not necessarily mean that wrongdoing or poor performance has occurred. However, conflicts of interest can create potential problems and are generally avoided by businesses and often prohibited by laws and regulations. The following are a few examples of potential conflicts of interest.

Agents
In some cases, the agents for a buyer and seller in a transaction both work for the same firm. This can lead to the temptation to share confidential information to ensure that a deal is closed and commissions are realized. If this happens, it is typically considered a breach of fiduciary duty.

Bailouts
Government bailouts of industry represent a moral hazard and may be carefully examined for conflict of interest such as campaign contributions or public speaking fees.

Banks
Investment banks put up an information barrier known as a Chinese wall between teams that advise corporate clients on things such as mergers & acquisitions and teams that manage money or advise brokerage clients. If buy-side teams obtained confidential information about such a client, this would be a clear conflict of interest.

Compensation
Hiring salary and salary adjustments may be impacted by cronyism such as an executive who hires friends at unreasonably high salaries with inflated job titles relative to their experience and responsibilities.

Content & Sponsorship
Media organizations may erect a Chinese wall between journalists and advertising departments to prevent advertisers from influencing the news or other content. It is an widely accepted practice to clearly label any content that has been influenced by advertisers.

Discipline
Cronyism may impact employee discipline. For example, serious complaints about executives and their inside circle at a firm may be casually dismissed, potentially in violation of employment law.

Fee Splitting
The practice of referring clients from one professional to another for a fee. Considered unethical in the medical profession.

Governance vs Management
In many cases, governance is set up to direct and monitor management. As such, when governance bodies are controlled by management this can be a conflict of interest. For example, if the board of directors of a firm is controlled in some way by the firm’s management.

Grassroots vs Astroturfing
Grassroots is a term for an organization set up by people who are not the member of an elite in pursuit of a common goal. Astroturfing is when an industry, firm or elite political group set up a fake grassroots organization to pretend that there is public support for their goals.

Insider Trading
An employee of a firm who uses confidential material information for material gain.

Judiciary & Commercial Interests
A judiciary that is influenced by commercial interests such as a privatized prison that influences a judge to give tougher sentences.

Judiciary & Personal Experience
A judge that knows a defendant and similar conflicts of interest based on the personal experiences of judge and jury.

Media & Politics
A high level politician has dinner with a media executive and asks that a journalist be fired for a critical article.

Medical Marketing
When a doctor is given material incentives to recommend a treatment by the firm selling the treatment.

Procurement
Procurement of goods and services is often governed by regulations and expected due diligence to prevent bribery, small gifts, relationships or any other conflict of interest from influencing the process. In some countries, procurement fraud is a major issue that impacts economic efficiency.

Nepotism
Granting favors to family in a commercial or political setting.

Outside Employment
Holding two jobs can theoretically result in conflicts of interest. For example, you may be tempted to use the secret propriety knowledge of one firm to complete work at the other.

Performance Management
Cronyism in performance management such as promoting friends despite low performance.

Perverse Incentives
A negative unintended consequence of a performance goal, incentive or system. For example, an executive who contractually gets a large bonus if they are fired has an incentive to fail in some circumstances.

Profit Motive & Public Services
Allowing the profit motive to corrupt institutions designed for the public good.

Regulatory Capture
A failure of government whereby commercial interests have undue influence on the agencies designed to provide oversight of an industry. In some cases, this extends to capture of the legislative process itself.

Research & Sponsorship
Research designed to satisfy a sponsor as opposed to being scientifically accurate.

Revolving Door
A system of influencing government whereby a firm’s employees are sent to work for government or government employees are offered lucrative future employment in exchange for influence.

Self Audits
An organization or department that audits its own controls may be likely to miss things.

Self Dealing
A general term for a violation of fiduciary duty in pursuit of self-interest.

Self Regulation
Industry self-regulation may risk conflict of interest as the profit motive may supplant the public interest.

What is Leadership?
What is Leadership? Jonathan Poland

In the modern business world, where rapid changes, technological advancements, and global challenges are the norm, effective leadership is more critical than ever. Organizations that prioritize and foster leadership are often more resilient, innovative, and poised for long-term success. Leadership is about providing vision, direction and inspiration to a group of people in order to achieve common goals. Good leaders motivate, inspire, and empower others.

There are many different leadership styles – authoritarian, democratic, strategic, transformational, and more. Effective leaders adapt their style to the situation and people. Key leadership qualities include integrity, accountability, empathy, humility, resilience, vision, influence, and decisiveness. Leadership involves a balance of soft skills and hard skills. Servant leadership and authentic leadership are popular modern styles that focus on serving others first over self-interest.

Good leaders communicate effectively, build trust, take initiative, delegate responsibilities, foster collaboration, make decisions, and manage conflicts. Leadership includes setting a clear vision, strategy and goals, then aligning people to work towards those. It requires establishing credibility and influencing without necessarily relying on formal authority. Leadership development involves acquiring skills through training, coaching and experience. Feedback, mindfulness and continuous self-improvement are important. Leadership can be learned. Leadership starts from within. Self-leadership focuses on self-awareness, self-regulation and self-development. Knowing oneself is key to leading others.

Impact Areas

Leadership plays a pivotal role in business development. Business development entails the process of identifying, attracting, and acquiring new business opportunities to drive growth and profitability. Here’s why leadership is essential in this context:

Vision and Direction:
Leadership provides a clear vision of where the business should go. This vision serves as a north star for business development initiatives, ensuring that efforts are aligned with the company’s long-term objectives.

Strategic Decision Making:
Leaders make crucial decisions regarding which markets to enter, which partnerships to pursue, and where to allocate resources. These decisions can significantly impact the business’s growth trajectory.

Motivation and Inspiration:
Strong leadership inspires and motivates business development teams to pursue ambitious goals, overcome challenges, and stay resilient in the face of rejection or setbacks.

Cultivating Relationships:
Leaders often play a role in forging critical business relationships, whether it’s with potential clients, partners, or investors. Their ability to communicate the value proposition, negotiate effectively, and build trust can significantly influence business development outcomes.

Risk Management:
Business development often involves venturing into new territories or pursuing untested opportunities. Leaders are responsible for assessing the potential risks and rewards, ensuring that the company neither misses out on promising opportunities nor ventures recklessly into detrimental situations.

Resource Allocation:
Leaders decide where to invest the company’s time, money, and talent. Ensuring that business development teams have the necessary resources—and that those resources are being used efficiently—is essential for success.

Cultural Ambassador:
Leaders set the tone for the organizational culture. In business development, where collaboration, innovation, and adaptability are critical, leaders play a role in fostering a culture that supports these attributes.

Continuous Learning and Adaptation:
Markets, technologies, and customer needs are always evolving. Effective leaders foster a culture of continuous learning and encourage their teams to adapt to changing circumstances. They are also open to feedback and are willing to pivot strategies based on new insights or shifts in the market.

Ethical Standards:
Leadership sets the ethical compass for the organization. Ensuring ethical practices in business development activities not only maintains a company’s reputation but also builds trust with clients and partners.

Talent Development:
As the business grows, so does the need for skilled professionals. Leaders play a vital role in attracting, retaining, and developing talent that can drive business development efforts forward.

In essence, while business development activities can be executed by dedicated teams or individuals, effective leadership amplifies the efficiency, strategic alignment, and success rate of these efforts. Without strong leadership, even the most skilled business development teams might lack direction, motivation, or the resources they need to succeed.

How to Improve?

Improving leadership capabilities is an ongoing journey, requiring self-awareness, dedication, and a willingness to adapt and grow. Here’s a list of ways to enhance leadership capabilities:

Self-awareness and Reflection:

  • Self-assessment: Use tools like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, DISC, or the StrengthsFinder to gain insights into your personality, strengths, and areas of improvement.
  • Reflection: Set aside regular time to reflect on your actions, decisions, and their outcomes.

Seek Feedback:

  • 360-degree feedback: Gather feedback from peers, subordinates, and superiors to gain a holistic view of your leadership style.
  • Openness: Cultivate an environment where team members feel comfortable providing you with honest feedback.

Continuous Learning:

  • Formal Education: Attend leadership courses, workshops, or pursue higher degrees like an MBA or specialized leadership programs.
  • Read: Consume books, articles, and case studies on leadership. Biographies of notable leaders can also provide valuable insights.

Coaching and Mentoring:

  • Executive Coaching: Work with a professional coach to refine your leadership skills.
  • Mentorship: Seek mentors who can guide you based on their experiences. Conversely, mentoring others can also help you refine your leadership skills.

Networking:

  • Engage with other leaders, both within and outside your industry, to share experiences and gain diverse perspectives.

Real-world Practice:

  • Challenging Assignments: Take on new, challenging projects to test and expand your leadership capabilities.
  • Rotate Roles: Experience various roles within your organization to understand different facets of the business and develop empathy.

Develop Emotional Intelligence:

  • Focus on improving self-awareness, empathy, interpersonal effectiveness, stress management, and emotional regulation.

Conflict Resolution Skills:

  • Attend trainings or workshops to develop skills in mediating conflicts and facilitating productive discussions.

Cultural Competency:

  • Engage with diverse groups and cultures to understand different worldviews and enhance your ability to lead diverse teams.

Stay Updated:

  • With the rapid changes in technology, market conditions, and global dynamics, it’s crucial to stay informed and adaptable.

Work-Life Balance:

  • Ensure you maintain a balance, which aids in mental well-being, reduces burnout, and allows for clearer decision-making.

Set Clear Goals:

  • Define what you want to achieve in your leadership journey. Break these down into actionable steps.

Seek Opportunities to Lead Outside of Work:

  • Volunteer, join boards or community groups, or take up roles in clubs or societies.

Feedback Systems:

  • Implement systems where regular feedback on leadership performance is provided and acted upon.

Time Management and Delegation:

  • Prioritize tasks and learn to delegate when necessary. Trusting your team is a critical aspect of leadership.

Ethical and Moral Grounding:

  • Always strive to lead with integrity. Upholding ethical standards is a cornerstone of trusted leadership.

Visualization and Mindfulness Practices:

  • Techniques like meditation and visualization can help in clarity of thought, decision-making, and maintaining composure in stressful situations.

Celebrate Successes and Learn from Failures:

  • Take time to acknowledge and celebrate achievements, both yours and your team’s. Likewise, view failures as learning opportunities.

Encourage Innovation:

  • Stay open to new ideas and encourage a culture of innovation, which can lead to dynamic leadership and growth.

Improving leadership capabilities requires consistent effort and a commitment to growth. While some people may have inherent leadership traits, effective leadership is often the result of experience, learning, and conscious development of key skills and attributes.

Organizational Culture
Organizational Culture Jonathan Poland

Organizational culture refers to the shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and symbols that characterize an organization and differentiate it from others. It is the foundation upon which an organization is built and shapes the way in which it operates and interacts with stakeholders. Organizational culture can be a source of competitive advantage or disadvantage, depending on how it aligns with the needs and expectations of customers and employees. A positive and cohesive culture can foster collaboration, innovation, and customer satisfaction, while a negative or misaligned culture can undermine productivity and morale. Therefore, it is important for organizations to actively cultivate and manage their culture to ensure that it supports their business goals and objectives. The following are common techniques and considerations that can be used to develop or change an organizational culture.

Leadership
The manner and method of getting people moving in the same direction.

  • Heliotropic Effect
  • Humble Leadership
  • Influencing
  • Leadership Challenges
  • Leadership Style
  • Management By Absence
  • Management By Walking Around
  • Nudge Theory
  • Prioritization
  • Shadow Of The Leader
  • Storytelling
  • Strong Culture

Structure
The basic architecture of the organization.

  • Authority
  • Bureaucracy
  • Business Principles
  • Capability Management
  • Corporate Governance
  • Decision Making
  • Goal Setting
  • Management
  • Matrix Management
  • Organizational Capital
  • Organizational Complexity
  • Organizing Principle
  • Performance Management
  • Satellite Office
  • Self-Organizing Team
  • Team Culture

Strategy & Identity
Shared purpose, mission, identity and direction.

  • Corporate Identity
  • Corporate Image
  • Corporate Narcissism
  • Digital Maturity
  • Epic Meaning
  • Ethics
  • Internal Branding
  • Mission
  • Organizational Resilience
  • Situational Awareness
  • Strategic Planning
  • Strategic Thinking
  • Vision

Change
Openness and aggressiveness of change. Some organizations are unable to change due to resistance driven by fierce defense of the status quo.

  • Bias For Action
  • Change Fatigue
  • Reactance
  • Resistance To Change
  • Trained Incapacity

Knowledge
How information is created, shared and used.

  • Anti-Information
  • Corporate Memory
  • Dispersed Knowledge
  • Knowledge Loss
  • Knowledge Waste
  • Lessons Learned
  • Types of Knowledge

Creativity & Innovation
Experimentation and pursuit of brave ideas to create industries and make existing products irrelevant.

  • Catfish Management
  • Creativity Of Constraints
  • Divergent Thinking
  • Fail Well
  • Failing Upwards
  • Greenfield
  • Innovation Principles
  • Preserving Ambiguity

Motivation
What drives your team.

  • Curiosity Drive
  • Fear Of Missing Out
  • Internalization
  • Intrinsic Motivation
  • Locus Of Control
  • Morale
  • Motivated Reasoning
  • Peak Experiences
  • Pull
  • Push
  • Work Ethic

Norms & Expectations
Norms of office politics and productivity.

  • Culture Fit
  • Culture Of Fear
  • Employee Behavior
  • Employee Expectations
  • Ethical Climate
  • Failure Is Not An Option
  • Flow
  • Genchi Genbutsu
  • Groupthink
  • Internal Environment
  • Malicious Compliance
  • Negative Selection
  • Petty Authority
  • Political Correctness
  • Professional Conduct
  • Professionalism
  • Red Tape
  • Social Proof
  • Teamwork
  • Tolerance For Disagreement
  • Unspoken Rule

Happiness & Fulfillment
The extent to which employees feel their career has meaning and that it contributes to their quality of life.

  • Boreout
  • Cosmopolitanism
  • Disability Etiquette
  • Employee Dissatisfaction
  • Happiness Index
  • Hygiene Factors
  • Peak Experiences
  • Quality Of Life
  • Work-Life Balance
  • Working Conditions

Abundance Mentality
Abundance Mentality Jonathan Poland

Abundance mentality is the belief that there is enough for everyone and that abundance, rather than scarcity, is the natural state of things. It is a mindset that sees opportunities rather than limitations, and focuses on creating and sharing abundance rather than competing for limited resources.

This mindset is often contrasted with a scarcity mentality, which is based on the belief that there is not enough to go around and that success requires beating out others for limited resources or status. A person with an abundance mentality is more likely to see collaboration and cooperation as the key to success, while a person with a scarcity mentality is more likely to see competition and individual achievement as the path to success.

In the workplace, an abundance mentality can be a valuable trait for leaders and employees alike. It can foster a positive and productive environment, where people are more focused on collaboration and achieving shared goals, rather than on office politics and competition. This can lead to increased productivity and innovation, as well as stronger relationships and teamwork. A manager with an abundance mentality may be more likely to support and develop their team members, creating a positive ripple effect that benefits the whole organization.

A dozen examples of abundance mentality: 

  1. Seeing challenges as opportunities for growth and learning
  2. Believing that there are enough resources for everyone to succeed
  3. Focusing on creating and sharing abundance rather than competing for limited resources
  4. Seeking to find win-win solutions in negotiations and conflicts
  5. Being open to new ideas and perspectives, even if they challenge your beliefs
  6. Being willing to give and receive support and feedback from others
  7. Trusting in the abundance of the universe and in your own abilities
  8. Having a positive and hopeful outlook, even in difficult situations
  9. Seeing success as something that can be shared and celebrated by everyone
  10. Being generous with your time, talents, and resources
  11. Believing in the potential of others and supporting their growth and development
  12. Fostering collaboration and teamwork rather than competition within your team or organization.

Ground Rules
Ground Rules Jonathan Poland

Ground rules are rules or guidelines that are established at the beginning of a meeting, activity, or other situation to help ensure that it is productive, respectful, and effective. These rules are designed to create a positive and supportive environment where all participants can contribute and participate fully.

Ground rules can be specific to a particular situation or context, such as a meeting, workshop, or negotiation. They can be tailored to the needs of the group and the goals of the activity. For example, ground rules for a meeting might include guidelines for participation and decision-making, while ground rules for a negotiation might focus on communication and conflict resolution.

In addition to promoting productivity and effectiveness, ground rules can also help to create a safe and inclusive environment where all participants feel respected and valued. This is especially important in situations where people with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives are coming together. By establishing ground rules, you can ensure that everyone is on the same page and that the activity or situation proceeds smoothly.

Park Distractions
The most common type of ground rule for meetings is a request for participants to avoid behaviors that may distract them and others such as the use of phones and consumption of food.

Respect Time
Rules related to respecting people’s time such as showing up, being on time and ending on time.

Listening
A rule that one person talks at a time while the others listen with intent to understand.

Step Up, Step Back
Guidelines that ask everyone to participate equally such that everyone talks and no one person dominates the conversation with long-winded speeches.

Communicate to be Understood
Rules related to clear communication such as speaking at a reasonable volume and avoiding language such as jargon that makes your message less consumable.

Get to the Point
Asking that people be clear, concise and direct.

Stay on Task
A guideline that a group stay focused on a task list such as a meeting agenda as opposed to going off on a tangent.

Time Boxing
A rule that you follow a schedule for a meeting such as 10 minutes per item.

Be Nice
Rules related to affording people respect and allowing them to save face.

No Put-downs
Specifically asking that people not insult each other. This type of rule may be viewed as condescending in a creative environment of adults where some level of wit and resilience can be expected.

Attack The Idea Not The Person
Criticizing ideas as opposed to people.

Constructive Criticism
A guideline that participants try to build upon each others ideas as opposed to attacking ideas in a non-constructive way. For example, the rules of improvisation can be useful for some types of creative exercises.

Personal Resilience
Ground rules that suggest participants be tough. For example, a rule that no ideas are protected from criticism. This is appropriate for creative environments that are actually trying to get something done as opposed to echoing the status quo.

Challenging Assumptions
Specifically asking participants to challenge prevailing assumptions and principles.

Honesty & Openness
Asking for candor and information sharing as opposed to holding back information for some political gain.

Presence
Asking that participants fully focus on an activity as opposed to day dreaming or resting.

Make Mistakes
Encouraging participants to take risks by contributing brave ideas that may not work out.

Ask Stupid Questions
The rule that there is no such thing as a stupid question is used to encourage people to openly acknowledge when they don’t understand something. Pretending to understand is a common social behavior that results from a fear of looking unintelligent. This can cause a variety of problems, in the worst case an entire group may not understand an important piece of information with everyone pretending to understand.

Confidentiality
A rule that information shared not leave the room or if it does leave the room that no names be associated with the information.

Creativity of Constraints
Ground rules may encourage participants to tear down assumptions to allow far-fetched ideas to surface. Alternatively, ground rules may impose constraints designed to spark creativity. For example, a rule that all proposed solutions to a problem be implementable in a week.

Problems Are Opportunities
A request for an optimistic and constructive approach to problem solving.

Ideas Are Validated
A request for defensive pessimism.

Look To The Future
A guideline that a conversation avoid dwelling on the past or present to look at how the future can be different.

Foundational Principles
Ground rules may include principles that will be used to guide negotiation or idea generation. For example, ground rules for divorce mediation that state that a child’s needs will be put first in all decisions.

Persistence
Persistence Jonathan Poland

Persistence is the ability to maintain motivation and effort over a prolonged period of time. It is a behavior or character trait that is essential for productivity. With persistence, individuals are able to overcome obstacles and continue working towards their goals, even in the face of challenges and setbacks. This trait allows them to persevere and achieve their desired outcomes, ultimately leading to success in both their personal and professional lives. The following are illustrative examples.

Diligence

Persistence is strongly associated with a character trait known as conscientiousness whereby an individual takes their duty and role seriously. For example, an environment minister who actually tries to do their job to make improvements to the environment despite strong defense of the status quo by the rest of the government.

Work Ethic

Hard work is associated with persistence. For example, a hard working mechanic who solves the root cause of a jet engine malfunction where a coworker with a lower work ethic might just address the symptoms of the problem.

Optimism

Persistence is founded on optimism whereby an individual continues to believe in what they are doing despite obstacles. For example, a gardener who plants orchids again despite having failed to grow orchids to maturation for four years in a row.

Ambition

Ambition is a desire and determination to reach a goal. For example, a project manager who corners an executive outside their office to push them to clear an issue after the executive has repeatedly canceled or skipped meetings regarding the matter.

Resilience

The ability to continue on without loss of diligence when you face stress. For example, a pilot who continues to work professionally to control an aircraft in extreme turbulence.

Patience

Persistence is tied to patience as it may require working for extended periods of time without seeing any results. For example, a software developer who doesn’t give up on an app they are writing even when it takes two years instead of the planned two months.

Failure is Not An Option

Persistence can have a negative side whereby individuals or organizations refuse to recognize the realities of a failure. For example, a military organization that keeps spending on a new technology when it is clear the concept or design is fundamentally flawed.

Fail Well

Persistence doesn’t necessarily imply an irrational approach to failure. For example, fail well is the design of things to fail quickly, cheaply and safely such that you can learn from each failure and continue to pursue your goals.

Perfectionism

Perfectionism is the irrational pursuit of excessive perfection. This is a negative type of persistence. For example, a designer who spends hundreds of hours perfecting a project where the client has said they will only pay for 20 hours.

Refinement

Refinement is the rational pursuit of perfection. For example, an artist who sets a very high standard for their work.

Mastery

Mastery is an approach to learning and work that doesn’t progress to a new stage until the current stage is completely finished. For example, a student who doesn’t move on to the second unit in their math textbook until they understand the first unit.

Over Planning
Over Planning Jonathan Poland

Over planning refers to the practice of spending excessive amounts of time planning without implementing any of the plans. This can be a wasteful and inefficient approach to problem-solving, as it can lead to plans that are overly complex and difficult to execute.

In some cases, over planning may be necessary for the development of extremely complex products or projects, such as a new airliner. In these situations, a high level of planning is required in order to ensure that the project is completed successfully. However, for most business operations, over planning can be a hindrance rather than a help.

Instead of over planning, it is often more effective to develop a clear and concise plan that focuses on the key objectives and priorities. This can help to ensure that resources are used efficiently and that progress is made in a timely manner. By avoiding over planning, businesses can avoid wasting time and effort on unnecessary activities, and instead focus on implementing their plans and achieving their goals. The following are alternatives that allow for less planning overhead, reduced project risk and a faster response to change.

Last Responsible Moment

Last responsible moment is the practice of delaying decisions and planning until they absolutely need to be done. This allows you to respond to change and reduce wasted planning effort.

Integrated Product Team

Small multidisciplinary teams that are responsible for requirements, development and operations for a single product or process. This prevents the heavy politics of having departments dealing with departments. It also simulates the structure of small firms that tend to do things far more efficiently than larger firms.

Ranking Priorities

A common way that projects get big is that stakeholders are asked to prioritize their requirements and they rate everything as “must have.” This can be prevented with a mandate that they rank priorities from 1…n.

Agile

Agile is the practice of implementing work in chunks no longer than a few weeks in duration. This typically restricts the planning phase for a release to a single day. Agile also allows for longer term planning to occur in the background away from the critical path of releasing work often.

Time to Market

Prioritizing time to market as a business metric forces planning cycles to be short as changes need to be shipped quickly. In other words, executives that aggressively evaluate teams on time to market will force teams to minimize planning.

Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement is the process of measuring results, improving and measuring again. This works well with agile whereby you improve in quick releases that can be adapted quickly based on real world results.

Process Streamlining

Minimizing bureaucratic processes that make planning bigger such as budget approvals or reviews by multiple departments. It is easier to justify minimal processes for small changes. This is yet another benefit of agile.

Planning Culture

Implementing habits, routines and norms that shorten planning such as standing meetings where nobody gets to sit down.

Structural Minimization

The less people that are involved in a change the less planning will be required. Likewise, changes that involve vendors or multiple departments may be orders of magnitude slower. As such, a basic principle of planning reduction is to put everyone with the authority to complete the change on the same small team. This can be described as designing your organizational structure to minimize the footprint of change.

Team Objectives
Team Objectives Jonathan Poland

Team objectives are specific goals that are established for a team in order to guide their work and track their progress. These objectives are typically linked to the overall goals of the organization and are used as part of the performance management process to evaluate the team’s performance. Team objectives can be related to a variety of factors, including productivity, quality of work, customer service, teamwork, and leadership.

Team objectives are typically reflected in the performance objectives of the team’s manager and members, as applicable. This means that the team’s goals are aligned with the individual goals of the team’s manager and members, and that everyone is working towards the same objectives. By establishing clear team objectives, organizations can ensure that their teams are working towards the same goals and are aligned with the overall goals of the organization. This can help to improve communication, collaboration, and overall performance within the team. The following are common types of team objectives.

Cost

Reducing a cost. For example, a train company that reduces the cost of train delays by managing platforms to help passengers board safely.

Efficiency

Efficiency is the output you get for a unit of input. For example, removing a bottleneck from a production line may increase output.

Labor Productivity

Labor productivity is the average revenue produced in an hour of work. Automation, tools and applications are typically designed to improve labor productivity. For example, software that reduces the time to create an architecture floor plan from 6 hours to 4 hours.

Revenue

Increasing revenue. Teams that have a direct impact on sales typically focus on revenue objectives. For example, the sales targets of a sales or product management team.

Marketing

Improving marketing metrics that are known to impact revenue such as brand awareness.

Data

Data capture, processing and analysis goals. For example, an objective to develop 1000 qualified leads.

Cycle Time

Speeding up the cycle time of processes. For example, reducing the time to respond to customer inquires from 16 hours to 2 hours.

Quality

Improving the quality of products, services, processes or communications. For example, increasing the durability of a bicycle tire from 2,000 hours of use to 3,000 hours.

Risk

Managing risk. For example, reducing the risk of a data breach by encrypting data in storage.

Customer Service

Improving customer service with policies, procedures, training or organizational culture initiatives. Typically measured with customer satisfaction.

Customer Experience

Improving the end-to-end customer experience. For example, upgrading the decor of a restaurant. Typically measured with surveys and customer interviews.

Investments

Projects and initiatives may be measured as investments. For example, an investment in a new production line that is measured with return on investment or net present value.

Employees

Improving the employee experience. For example, transforming onboarding processes so that employees are all set up with everything they need the moment they first arrive. Measured with surveys and process efficiency metrics.

Environment & Communities

Reducing your impact on the environment and having a positive impact in the communities in which you operate. For example, replacing a toxic material with a harmless one.

Compliance

Compliance to regulations and standards. Typically achieved by implementing controls and measured by achieving certification or by reducing non-compliances such as incidents.

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Risk Mitigation

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Decision Costs

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What are End Goals?

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Pre-Sales Jonathan Poland

Pre-Sales

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Government Contract Renewals 150 150 Jonathan Poland

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What is a Durable Product?

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Middlemen

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Decision Framing

Decision framing refers to the way in which a choice or dilemma is presented or structured. This includes the language…

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Data Breach Jonathan Poland

Data Breach

A data breach is a security incident in which sensitive, protected, or confidential data is accessed, disclosed, or stolen. Data…

Feedback Loop Jonathan Poland

Feedback Loop

A feedback loop is a process in which the output of a system is used as input to adjust the…

Market Intelligence Jonathan Poland

Market Intelligence

Market intelligence refers to the process of gathering, analyzing, and disseminating information about a market, competitors, and industry trends in…

Service Quality Jonathan Poland

Service Quality

Service Quality is determined by the value it holds for customers. This value can vary from person to person and…

Upselling Jonathan Poland

Upselling

Upselling is a sales technique that involves encouraging customers to purchase higher-priced, add-ons, or upgraded versions of products or services…

Program Controls Jonathan Poland

Program Controls

Program controls are the mechanisms that enable a computer program to execute a set of instructions in a specific order…

Financial Controls Jonathan Poland

Financial Controls

Financial controls are the policies, procedures, and processes that an organization puts in place to manage and protect its financial…

Change Driver Jonathan Poland

Change Driver

A change driver is a force or factor that initiates or drives change within an organization. Change drivers can be…

Advanced Economy Jonathan Poland

Advanced Economy

An advanced economy is a highly developed economic system that provides a high level of economic well-being and quality of…

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